E father’s house. The Ferns and other 
E Cryptogamia that you will find in your 
mens of this tribe, which I may in future 
send you, I have to request that you will 
_ kindness you have so freely bestowed up- 
on me. Is there any thing new or rare 
the Mosses? Some of them are 
highly beautiful; but of these, I expect 
- to make a much finer collection in the Or- 
gan Mountains. 
.. “About three weeks ago, I spent two 
| days at Tejuca, in company with young 
- Mr. Miers, the son of the well-known Chi- 
i lian traveller; he is enthusiastic in the 
pursuit of Natural History, and has been 
. My companion in many of my excursions. 
i On the mountain near this place, which 
E lies about fourteen miles to the West of 
.. Rio, we found some very fine Orchidee, 
the beautiful Cattleya labiata being the 
most abundant. Such of this tribe of 
. plants as seemed to be capable of bearing 
X conveyance, I have sent home; one case 
T being for His Grace the Duke of Bedford, 
: 1o whom I also forward a few Cacti—an- 
— Other for Mr. Murray at the Botanic Gar- 
den, and the third for Mr. Skirving of Li- 
Yerpool. Another box lies in the Messrs. 
. ,TISODs' warehouse, ready to be shipped 
vi first vessel for Hamburgh to the 
| Cree Booth of that city. To several 
I ers of my subscribers for living plants, 
: erm Send collections from the Organ 
 ""UMains. The length of time I may 
: — there depends upon the success I 
: " ides with. From all I can hear, this 
f Hras Season to visit those mountains 
— sa mg plants, so that I anticipate a 
mi acs and mean to send home not 
, idee in a living state, but Ges- 
» and every thing else that may ap- 
worthy of conveyance. The only 
as of residence to be obtained near the 
Enelisi Ountains, is in the house of an 
Nu merchant, named March, who pos- 
k de large tract of the country, where 
wn. Ult several houses, which are ge- 
Y hired by those families who retire 
e 
E 
J 
BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
345 
thither to avoid the excessive heat of the 
summer months. I am to be a boarder in 
this gentleman’s own residence, at the rate 
of £15 per month, an extremely high price, 
but as there is no other accommodation to 
be obtained, I have no option. Mr. Bur- 
chell, the African traveller, occupied the 
same quarters during his stay on the Organ 
Mountains, and he was my predecessor in 
the family with whom I now reside near 
Rio, as was also your protégé, the lament- 
ed Douglas. Shortly after my arrival here, 
I was introduced to Mr. Riedel, a botani- 
cal collector in the employ of the Russian 
government, who has spent fourteen years 
in this country, and travelled througħ the 
greater part of it, having been attached to 
Langsdorff's expedition. You will find 
some account of his travels in Loudon's 
Magazine of Natural History, Nos. 21 and 
23. Tweedie was at Rio when I arrived, 
but we did not meet: he called once on 
Mr. Miers, but whither he is now gone I 
know not. 
* As yet, I have been unable to find 
either Eriocaulons or Cephaelis Ipecacu- 
anha, but expect to procure both in the 
mining districts. The latter chiefly inha- 
hits the virgin woods, and I shall not fail 
to gather abundance of specimens, with 
the view to introduce this interesting plant 
to England, where it does not at present 
exist. Nor could I obtain any of the nu- 
merous Palms about Rio, though I was 
continually looking out for them, the only 
one which I met with in a flowering state, 
having too lofty and smooth a stem for me 
to reach it. Perhaps I shall be more suc- 
cessful in the Organ Mountains. : 
“ You will observe by the parcels which 
I send, that, including my own and the 
one consisting of Ferns and Orchidee for 
Mr. Parker, I have prepared twenty-six 
This number will, I think, be suffi- 
cient, as I shall be quite satisfied if I can 
procure subscribers for them all. More- 
over, I should find it necessary to reduce 
the amount of species, if I had to dry more 
specimens of each kind, and as it is, 1 am 
often obliged regretfully to pass by many 
interesting things. 
sets. 
